POYi Best Multimedia Catagory Judging

Judges for the Best Multimedia category today were:
– Keith Graham from the University of Montana
– Michele McDonald staff photojournalist from the Boston Globe
– Robert Hood Director of Multimedia at MSNBC.

This year the POYi Best Multimedia entries consisted of a number of story types like single story documentaries, multi-chaptered essays, short graphical stories, some news related, some international and some that ventured into new territory. After following this category in POYi for three years, it has been interesting to watch the quality of the entries evolve from independent quality to a “big buck” professional level. This worries a future independent journalist like me, because it will eventually take blockbuster-cinema investments to compete in the multimedia category. Perhaps this is why the Media Storm method is so popular within independent circles that need expensive production equipment to make the stories worthy of modern viewers interests. You have to make someone care right away.

The Judges began the elimination process by looking over all 126 entries, one-by-one, scrolling over the interactive elements on the web pages getting first impressions for the projects. The judges wanted to find out what stories’ initial reactions were big enough to entice a user to click on the story and view more. To win, each piece should grab the viewer’s attention throughout every instance of the project; beginning to end.

A project’s content may be amazing, but if it doesn’t have a good first impression it is finished no matter how good what is inside may be. As one of the judges sitting in the dark room said, “Don’t make it hard for me to understand how big and good it is, otherwise it isn’t worth it. How does it entice me? How does it immerse me?”

So, the judges then went back through the 126 entries a second time and viewed two minutes of each project. After watching two minutes of each story the judges finally voted; one of the three judge’s votes was all that was needed to keep the story in the competition, but a consensuses will later be needed for it to win. This first round of judging lasted from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m.

The POYi Director, Rick Shaw told all three of the newly arrived visiting judges that this is supposed to be mainly a documentary competition and that they should think about how that idea plays into each of the pieces.

I also found it interesting that a judge voted one of the pieces out, because he did not feel that the headline and opening presentation matched up with the content of the story well enough.

Another judge voted a story in, because it borrowed from cinema by placing the same characters in the same portions of the frame so as to differentiate the many characters from one another during cuts. Apparently, the brain subconsciously relates a character’s identity with physical points on the screen. Also in the spirit of cinema, the judge recognized the project’s need to be linearly and logically arranged.

One problem judges were faced with in this category was excellent documentary pieces that were so complex they had to be shot over a five-year period. The issue being that POYi entry requirements say that all pictures must me shot during the year 2007-2008.

Over all POYi was as interesting as always and I am a better photographer and multimedia producer because I went. Watching all the documentaries reinvigorated my passion to be a great journalist and tell deserving stories that otherwise would go unvoiced.